Re: [tied] English Young (was: Indo-Iranian Vowel Collapse)

At 4:48:06 PM on Wednesday, November 23, 2005, Richard
Wordingham wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Rob" <magwich78@...>
> wrote:

>> A couple off-topic things:
>> 1. Why is the Modern English word 'calf' and not *chealf
>> (pl. *chealver)?

> a) The singular derives from *kalba-m or *kalba-z - both
> neuter and masculine thematic plurals are know from Old
> English.

> b) Breaking after 'c' is West Saxon, and breaking before
> 'l' is non-Anglian.

> c) The Norman conquest enabled the Anglian East Midlands
> dialect to become dominant.

> The broken form survives to this day in the placenames
> _Chawleigh_, _Chawton_, _Chalvey_ and _Chelvey_, and
> Kentich _chawlfe_ for 'calf' is attested in the 16th
> century.

<Chawton> is perhaps a bit likelier to contain <cealc>
'chalk'; formerly either is possible, but Watts points out
that the place lies on the chalk downs.

Brian